Regulating-valve.



F. T. KITCHEN.

REGULATING VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18, 1911.

11 1189 531, Patented May 18,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ivwweoaeo. f/woz F. T. KITCHEN.

REGULATING VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-18, 1911.

1 19 533; Patented May 18, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lvitwaooeoz 5] 1? F. T. KITCHEN. REGULATING VALVE. APPLICATION 111.120 SEPT. 18. 1911.

1 139 533. P11611161 May 18,1915.

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I 1 11111 11 0 W Ui|y 1n111111 QUitmeoocoi wv toz 35 110 55W we FREDERICK T. KITCHEN,

& LIGHTING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK,

01F ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO GOLD CAR HEATING N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1915.

Application flIed September 18, 1911. Serial No. 649,928.

'To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK T. KITCHEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at 14: ,Conover Terrace, Orange, Essezrscounty, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Regulating-Valves, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof.

This invention relates to regulating valvessuch as are employed for delivering steam or air at a predetermined pressure from a main or other source of supply in which the pressure may vary more or less above that which is to be maintained in the outlet.

The general object of the invention is to improve the construction of valves of this general character with the special purpose of enabling the predetermined outlet pressure to be maintained uniformly under all conditions and to prevent the injurious eflect of leakage.

A further object is generally to improve the construction of such valves.

The features of improvement will 'be more particularly explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which is illustrated a convenient and practical embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a view of the improved valve in vertical central section. Fig. 2 is a view of the lower part of the valve casing and of the part immediately above it in vertical central section in a plane substantially at 45 from the plane of section indicated in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top view of the lower part of the valve casing. Fig. l is a View in section on the plane indicated by the line 44: of Fig. 1, looking upward. v

For convenience in manufacture and in the assembling of the parts, the valve casing comprises several parts or members a, b and 0. The main or lower part a is provided with a suitable coupling, asat a, for theinlet pipe a, and with a suitable coupling, as at w, for the outlet pipe at. It is also formed with a wall or partition a which has a horizontal portion a in which is formed a port a" through which the steam or air passes from the inlet to the outlet, the port a being formed with a suitable valve seat as at a. At its lower end the main portion a of the casing is provided with a suitable spring seat and valve stem guide a", and at its upper end it may be flanged, as at a that it may have secured to it the next upper or intermediate ortion b of the casing, which is similarly anged, as at b.

At its upper end; the intermediate portion 1) of the casing is also formed so as to have secured to it the upper portion 0 of the Valve casing, being preferably threaded as indicated at 6 At its upper endthe portion 0 is threaded exteriorly to receive an adjustable regulating cap 03 which is provided with a suitable handle 03. A lock-nut d may also be threaded upon the upper portion 0 of the casing. 1

The upper end of the portion a of the casing is formed with a chamber a, which communicates, through a passage a with the outlet, as hereinafter described. Within the chamber at and around the opening a, through which extends the main valve stem, is a guide sleeve a.

A valve 6, carried by a stem 0, is pressed upward against the valve seat a in the horizontal portion a of the wall a by a spring f.

The valve stem 6 carries at its upper end a broad head 6 to bear against the diaphragmg which is secured between the parts a and b of the casing.

The member 6 of the casing is formed in its under face, above the diaphragm g, with a shallow chamber b to permit the necessary movement of the diaphragm, and in its upper portion with a chamber 12 Centrally disposed within the chamber 6* is aboss b which forms a support for'the controlling valve k. The boss 6 is chambered centrally, as at b, to receive the controlling valve In and its supporting spring h, by which the valve is pressed upwardly against its seat 6 at the lower end of a central passage b, which is formed through a plug b". The latter is threaded into the boss 6 within the opening which is sufiiciently large to permit the easy removal of the valve and its spring. The plug b is formed with passages b which communicate on the one side with the central passage 12 around the reduced middleportion of the valve-stem k and at the other end with a circumferential groove o which communicates, through passages b", with the chamber 6 High pressure steam from the inlet a is admitted to the chamber b below the controlling valve it through a passage or in are the lower part of the shell and a registering passage 6 in the intermediate portion of the shell, so that the valve 7:, is pressed toward its seat not only by the spring h but by the high pressure steam from the inlet. The steam which, when the valve 25. is held from its seat, passes by the valve through the channels 6 and Z2 into the chamber Z), above the diaphragm g, is permitted to escape through a bleed nipple 6 into the chamber 6*, from which it passes to the outlet through the passage 6 in the part b of the casing and a registering passage a in the main part a of the casing. The building up of pressure in the chamber 6 to an undue or dangerous degree on the upper side of the diaphragm 9 through escape of high pressure steam past the valve 71. or leakage of steam otherwise is thus prevented, although the bleed nipple does not afford such a ready discharge orifice as to prevent the "pressure above the diaphragm g from building up to a certain extent.

The bleed nipple b rises above the bottom of the chamber Z) and has a conical top so that the passage is not likely to be choked by any particle of hard matter resting on the nipple. Also the nipple is counterbored from its under side so that the passage is very short and therefore less likely to be obstructed.

The passage a in the lower part of the casing communicates with a passage a", shown in .dotted lines in Figs. 3 and 4, which, as clearly indicated, opens into the outlet a in the direction of the flow of steam through the outlet. This is an important feature since the flow of steam through .the outletnot only acts, through this arrangement of the passage a", to draw the steam from the chamber 1), but it prevents the steam which passes the main valve 6 from rushing into the chamber (2 and so affecting the accuracy of the valve as it would otherwise, especially under side of the diaphragm z.

The stem h of the controlling valve k bears against a diaphragm i which is, so-

- sible, any hard particles which cured between the parts I) and a of the casing and upon the upper side of the diaphragm bears a plunger k which is pressed downward b an adjustable-spring}, the tension of whic is regulated by the adjustable cap d which forms an abutment for the upper .end of the spring Z. A strainer m surrounds the main valve e and its seat and another strainer n surrounds the controlling valve 1; and its seat so as to exclude, as far as poswise find their; way between valves and their seats and closing of the valves.

In describing the operation of the im-' proved valve it will be assumed that the spring Z is compressed sufiiciently by the the respective prevent complete by impinging against the might otherdiaphragm a of the valve and 6 past the valve h and through the passages 6 and 6 into the chamber 6 where it acts upon the upper side of the diaphragm g and, acting through the diaphragm and the stem 0 of the main valve 0, holds the valve 6 from its seat far enough to permit steam to pass into the outlet a.

The steam in the chamber 5' acts on the under side of the diaphragm z in opposition to the spring Z, to control the position of the valve h with respect to its seat. Low pressure steam in the chamber a acts on the under side of the diaphragm g and through the stem 6 being forced upwardly by spring 7 tends to hold the valve 6 to its seat in position against the high pressure steam in the chamber 6 If the pressure in the outlet decreases, it is desirable to have the valve 6 moved farther from its seat so as to permit more steam to pass to the outlet side and to increase the pressure. If, as pointed out above, the outlet pressure falls, then the pressure of the low pressure steam in the chamber a falls, and, the pressure of the inlet steam remaining constant relatively for a moment, inthe chamber 6 the valve stem e is moved downwardly and the valve e is moved farther from its seat against the action of its spring 7. As the pressure in the outlet passage a falls, the pressure in the chamber 6 also falls, with the result that the valve In is opened and the pressure in chamber 6' increasesfand .acts on the diaphragm g to open the valve e to a greater extent, the bleednipple 6 having an opening insuflicient to vent the pressure from the chamber 6'' as fast as it is admitted thereto. If the pressure on the outlet side increases then the low pressure steam in the chamber a acting upon the inlet steam in the chamber 1) which may be considered to remain con- 'stant in pressure at any instant, for the purposes of this description, will move the diaphragm g upward, allowing spring 7 to raise the valve stem 6' andthe valvee, thus closin partially the passage a and permittin t e outlet pressure to decrease.

t will be understood that when the valve e is open an increase or decrease of pressure on the inlet side is accompanied by a corresponding increase ordecrease of ressure on the outlet side. Advantage is ta en of this condition in the present construction by providing auxiliary control devices, operable by the inlet steam to cooperate with the main control device above described to control prpperly the position of the valve e, Thus, If e outlet steam increase in its pressure, a correspond' increase in ressure will result in the fiiamber b. uch anincrease will serve to lift the diaphragm 13 against high pressure steam to pass from the inlet and through the passages a the action of the spring Z, so as to permit the valve 72, to be moved toward its seat by its spring 72/. By partially closing the valve h a decrease in pressure in the steam contained in the chamber 1), will result, thus permitting the outlet steam contained in the chamber a to be more effective in its action on the diaphragm g. The desired action under the circumstances assumed, is a partial closing of the valve e, whereby the tendency of the outlet steam to increase in pressure to an extent depending upon the increase of pressure'of the inlet steam, is overcome. Reversely, it will be understood that a decrease in pressure on the inlet side, will result in a corresponding decrease of pressure of the steam contained in the outlet and in the chamber 6 and the spring Z is permitted to become eflective in overcoming the upward pressure of the diaphragm 21, whereby the valve h is moved farther from its seat. The effect of opening the valve h to a greater extent is to permit a greater flow of inlet steam into the chamber 6 and a corresponding increase of pressure therein, whereby the diaphragm 9, together with the valve stem 6 and valve 6 are moved downward to permit an increase of pressure on the outlet side. The control of the pressure of the steam in the chamber 1) is accomplished in part by the valve ,h, as explained, and in part by the relatively restricted bleed nipple 15 whereby the flow between the chamber 12 alnd the chamber 6 is caused to be relatively s ow.

It will be understood that details of construction and arrangement may be varied to suit difi'erent conditions of use and that the invention, therefore, is not limited to the precise construction and arrangement of parts shown and described herein.

I claim as my invention 1. In a pressure regulating valve, the combination of a valve casing having an inlet and an outlet and a passage from the inlet to the outlet, a main valve to control said passage, a diaphragm to act upon the main eating with the inlet only through the bleed passage and the chamber above the diaphragm and having independent communication with the outlet, and means operable at a predetermined difl'erence in pressure between the inlet and the outlet pressures to force the controlling valve from its seat.

2. In a pressure regulating valve, the combination of a valve casing having the inlet (H, the outlet at, the passage 0, therebetween, the valve 6 controlling said passage, the diaphragm g acting on said valve and form ing the two non-communicating chambers a and b the passage a from said first mentioned chamber to the outlet, the passages b", b, b, b? and a from said second mentioned chamber to the inlet, the spring pressed valve it being subject to the changes in the pressure differential between the inlet and the outlet pressures controlling said connection and acting against the high pressure fluid, the independent chamber 6 the bleed passage 6 from said chamber 6 to said chamber 6 and the passages b and a between said chamber 1) and the outlet, said last mentioned passage opening into said outlet in the direction of flow from the main valve.

This specification signed and witnessed this 16th day of Se tember A. 1)., 1911.

FREDETBICK T. KITCHEN.

Signed in the presence of- W. B. GREELEY, AMBRosE L. OSHEA. 

